ASUS Eee PC 1002HA reviewed: looks cool but the battery stinks
By Laura June 
posted December 4th 2008 12:12PM
posted December 4th 2008 12:12PM
Laptop Magazine's reviewed the ASUS Eee PC 1002HA we've been hearing so much about lately, and they're pretty impressed with what they're seeing. They gush over its looks, design and slimness, noting the similarity to the more expensive S101, and think the keyboard's decently comfortable. The reviewer found the 10-inch screen to be pretty cool for watching My Best Friend's Wedding on, though viewing at an angle was not necessarily awesome by any means. The 1002HA is a fast booter, and pretty speedy in general, with a strong WiFi connection. Where it really fails, however is in the fact that the two-cell battery (which ASUS claimed would last for five hours) made it only a sad 3 hours and 39 minutes, and the company isn't planning on offering an extended life model either, apparently. So much for watching My Best Friend's Wedding and Notting Hill back to back, huh?
won't do me any good, I need a 4 hour 30 minute battery minimum
What is wrong with Asus, ?? they need to be making netbooks with 9 or more cells! the longer the better. They need to integrate it into the design
So you want a netbook that weighs like a brick? They need to be pushing for better efficiency, both in battery capacity and in power usage. The 6 Cell NC10 seems the ideal compromise with the current level of technology available for its price point. Maybe the next step up will be fuel-cells or something more radical.
For its size I think it's mighty fine battery life
So much for the idea of netbook being portable/on the go. It's sad that while the hardware (Atom) is as power efficient as possible, manufactures are equipping netbooks with tiny batteries (most only come with 3cell), defeating the point. 3 hours might be okay versus 2 hours on a desktop replacement, but this is a netbook. With the hardware becoming more power efficient (Atom, SSD, etc), why can't we have manufactures making netbooks with real life 6 hours+ battery life?
I have an Acer 5920G and my 6-cell battery lasts 3 and a half hours when doing basic stuff like web browsing and chatting with IM's. If I watch a movie on battery, or do audio/video editing, etc. that falls to about 2 and a half to 3 hours max... so 3h39m on a 2-cell is fantastic, even when the system doesn't suck up as much power as a whole. If I reviewed this, I'd criticize the screen. I think at 10 inches, it's starting to push Netbooks a little far. They're meant to be a small replacement for laptops. My girlfriend has a 12" Tablet PC and it's classified more as a notebook then a netbook, although this seems to be closing the gap pretty closely.
CELLS ARE NOT A MEASURE OF BATTERY CAPACITY!
*runs to find a large hammer*
Yeah I was just about to say that. Cells don't have to store the same amount of energy! It's like saying two tanks of petrol holds more energy than one. It ain't necessarily so.
3 hrs and 40 minutes isn't bad.... I mean my laptop gets 2.5 hrs and I'm fine with it. There are these really nifty things called power outlets where you can plug in electronics with batteries and the batteries become magically recharged!
Power outlets are not available everywhere.
If power outlets/wireless power were available everywhere, we wouldn't need a battery on portable computers.
"Where it really fails, however is in the fact that the two-cell battery (which ASUS claimed would last for five hours) made it only a sad 3 hours and 39 minutes"
Where it fails, how is 3 1/2 hours failing? Terrible review.
Am I an only one who things this laptop was heavily inspired by Toshiba Portege R100? :-)